And so ends another road season.

I don’t know where ABD’s Ryan Freund and John Meyers went Saturday night to celebrate their boffo time trials, but they may want to avoid it in the future: Both called in sick with food poisoning Sunday, forfeiting their shot at the 1/2 overall and missing out on a fun, wind-blown circuit race in West Chicago.

To kick of the 1/2/3’s race, Northwestern’s Will Nowak (Alderfer-Bergen) set off by himself in what seemed like a fool’s errand. Solo breakaway in gale winds? Crazy! Several bridge attempts failed until once-and-future pro Chad Hartley (Geargrinder) bridged by himself. That sparked a few rounds of attacks and counterattacks until finally a group of six made it across. In the final two laps, Nowak, Hartley and Nathan Moorhouse (WDT-Allvoi) split off, with Hartley taking the sprint victory. Moorhouse earned enough points to move into 2nd overall ahead of teammate David Polin, but it was a sweep of the mass-start races for champ Hartley. In fact, we have to go back to mid-August to find an Illinois 1/2 race not won by Geargrinder.

Ricardo Otero (WDT-Allvoi) had himself a profitable afternoon. After winning out of a seven-man break in the 40+, he immediately jumped into the 1/2/3’s and again got himself in the break, taking a second win as the only rider in the break registered as a 3. Riding in the first chase group, juniors Scott Rosenfield (IS Corp) and James Bird (IS Corp) had a lock on the 3’s overall, finishing 1-2 thanks to solid time trial efforts.

Bird, it should be noted, placed 3rd among 3’s in the time trial despite racing in sneakers and clips, having forgotten his cycling shoes, and missing his start time by 20 seconds. Meanwhile, Joel Friedman (Bicycle Heaven) flagrantly violated ABR Rule K against false-flagging by racing the time trial in a skinsuit for a club other than his own. Protests to have him relegated were denied.

(That last bit is a joke.)

I regret missing it, but Sunday’s 4’s race may have been the most interesting on the day with Tim Speciale (Bicycle Heaven) and John Whipple (Unattached) entering the day tied in the overall. Things couldn’t have been any closer as Speciale and Whipple went a close 1-2 in the bunch sprint, thus finishing 1-2 overall. (Also included in the action was what may have been cycling’s first cake prime, above, a nice nod to last week’s contentious wrap-up. The prestigious prize was won by Mario Starr (Team Mack).)

Tom Doughty (Amgen/Giant Masters) won the combined 50+/55+ circuit race to secure a series sweep in the 55+. John Fleckenstein (Team Mack) finished 3rd of the 50+ to fend off Fabio Orlandi (PYOC) and Mike Jones (PACT/Dish Network) in that overall. Gary Doering (Team Mack) finished 1st, with Bisi Tubic (Unattached) in 2nd, an impressive result for our favorite Phonak fan.

Joe Berenyi (Endure It!) finished solidly both days to wrap-up the citizens overall after sweeping last weekend’s races. I missed the citizens races, so until it was mentioned to me Saturday I was unaware that Berenyi has only one arm

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and does not ride with a prosthetic.

In the women’s races, Debbie Dust (PACT/Dish Network) and Stacy Applewick (Endure It!) each earned 39 out of a possible 40 points to win the women’s open and women’s 4’s, respectively.

Full circuit race results. Full omnium results.

Race reports
Rob Curtis (Bicycle Heaven; 4): “All were in agreement it was the most fun crit we have ever raced.”

Debbie Dust (PACT/Dish Network; W-open): “Because bike racing is far from being ‘a perfect world,’ things didn’t quite turn out the way we would have liked.”

Scott Rosenfield (IS Corp; 3): “The Fall Fling is maybe a brownie that was left over from last weekend’s party and is now a bit stale and hard with some random powdered sugar sprinkled on top.”

Mark Swartzendruber (Verizon Wireless; 40+): “The break included two of my longtime heroes,  Tom Doughty and Fabio Orlandi.  The break was a blast.”